Page 78 of Riot Reunion
The last thing Presley expected was for her friend to side with Pax, it seems. She gapes at Elodie, then turns pleading eyes in Carrie’s direction.
“Don’t look at me. Sorry, Pres,” Carrie says. “You should really let us get someone out to you. Just to be safe. You’re super pale. You were really off-balance earlier too, and you said you had a headache—”
“Wouldn’t you have a headache with so many people fussing over you?” Frustration strains her words, pulling each word taut. Presley attempts to drag herself up into a seated position, but a low, menacing growl rumbles in Pax’s throat.
“Do you want me to tie you down? ’Cause I will. I’ll have no problem restraining you if you won’t listen to common sense.”
I bet he will. I’ll fucking help him do it. The girl does not look well. Elodie comes to me, talking softly as Pres continues to protest, chafing under Pax’s strict care. “Shouldn’t this at least say SOS or something?” She shows me her phone, and she’s right. Her cell reception is one hundred percent out, the bars replaced with ‘NO SERVICE.’ When I check my phone, the display tells me the same thing.
“I don’t know. We’re out of the way out here. If lightning struck the cell phone tower…”
Elodie nods, chewing on her lip. “I’m gonna wait with her for a while, and then I think some of us should head back to the cars and drive down the mountain until we can call someone. I don’t like this.”
“For sure.”
“I can hear you guys,” Presley grouses from the couch. “I feel much better now that it’s getting warm in here. I just need some proper food—”
“What, you mean your body needs more than Jell-O to function properly? I’mshocked,” Pax says, pacing up and down along the back of the couch.
“Please do not say I told you so right now,” Presley moans. “I can’t take it. I just need to get back to the house and eat a sandwich or something. The carbs will fix me right up.”
“You’renotgoing back out in that cold and rain.”
“We could dip inside the academy and go see what they have in the kitchens,” Dash suggests. “Probably won’t be much in the way of perishable goods, but maybe there’s something in the dry store we can make. Pasta or something.”
“That’s a great idea,” Presley says, perking up. Jeez, she really doesn’t want an ambulance called out for her. Her attitude shifts almost immediately, though, worry marring her features all over again. “Wait. If the school’s all sealed up tight for the holidays, won’t an alarm go off if you break in?”
“Fucking hope so,” Pax says. “That’ll be one way to get a trained medical professional to you. The cops will be able to radio for an ambulance—”
“Oh my god! Just stop fussing. Please! You’ll get in trouble if the police show up. We aren’t students here anymore. We’re trespassing. Darhower would love nothing more than to press charges against you, Pax. You embarrassed the fuck out of her with your graduation speech. She wouldn’t hesitate to have your ass thrown in jail.”
“It’d be worth it.”
“You’re not breaking into the school just so you can make me a PB and J. God, will everyone just calm down? I’m feeling a lot better now. Just—just let me sit up already!” She slaps Pax’s hand away when he tries to guide her back down onto the couch, and for a second, I think he really will tie her down. Muttering angrily, he stalks away from the couch and grabs a throw blanket from one of the armchairs, taking it back to her. “Get that jacket off. It’s soaked. And those jeans. Wrap yourself in this until you’re dry.”
Presley sits up, defiance sparking in her eyes as she removes the jacket and…that’s as much as I see. I go to Elodie. Her long dark hair is still dripping from the rain, tiny wisps at her temples starting to curl a little in the increasing warmth of the gazebo. Her cheeks are bright red from the cold, as is the tip of her nose. She trails her fingers along the line of books, smiling softly to herself.
“Wonder what you’re thinking about…”
The tiny lift at the corners of her mouth lets me know she’s battling a smirk, but under the circumstances, she’s too polite to unleash it. “The first time you brought me here…” she says. “You said to me, ‘Of all my sins and misdeeds, making you fall in love with me will be the very worst of them all.”
With a very steady hand, I twist a piece of her damp hair around my index finger, that memory crashing into me, hitting hard. I’d been so fucking fascinated by her that night. I couldn’t look away. She’d been wet from the rain, much like she is now. I hadn’t touched her, then, though. I hadn’t experienced what it was like to own Elodie Stillwater, body and soul, and have her own me right back.
“I’m still sinning…” I whisper. “I followed through on that promise, didn’t I?”
“I suppose so.” She looks up at me with an air of insolence. “But I made you fall in love with me too, y’know.”
Softly laughing under my breath, I trail my fingertip down the slope of her nose. “Then we’rebothsinners. We deserve each other.”
Pax is done fighting with Pres. He’s all business as he heads over to us. “Can you two quit canoodling for one second? She still won’t let me break into the school. I’m gonna head over to the gardener’s outhouse and see if that vending machine’s still there. If not, I’m one hundred percent raiding the kitchens. You coming?” He aims his last question at me.
“Sure.”
“And will you stay and watch her, Elodie? Please?” he adds awkwardly at the end. In all my years of friendship with Pax, this is the first time I’ve seen him really, genuinely be polite to a girl. Sure, he has manners around Presley, but she doesn’t count.
Elodie nods. “Of course.”
“How about you, Lord Lovett? You coming?” Pax calls to the others. Dash and Carrie have been fussing over an electric kettle. They’ve found some tea bags and have made a couple of mugs of hot tea by the looks of things. “Absolutely,” Dash says, even though he has no idea what he’s agreeing to. That’s what I love about Dash. You never have to explain a thing to him. If you tell him you need his help, he’ll give it no matter what. Fucker didn’t ask a single question about why I wanted him to come to Tel Aviv on my birthday last year. He just packed a bag and jumped into the back of the car, ready to do whatever needed to be done.
